Volume 16

The Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency.

Date:
1877-1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    681/702 (page 659)
    NASIK. 659 to retire wit'll their arms and private property. In the course of Chapter XIV. the day the garrison turned out. There were about 535 men, piaces of Interest. Rajputs and Marathas with a few Sidis or Abyssinians. It was Teimbak Fort- arranged that they should leave by the south gate, but so well is is. had it been secured inside by heaps of stones that they were not able to clear a way for themselves before three o'clock in the afternoon. Within the fort were found twenty-five pieces of ordnance, from a thirty-three down to a one-pounder, with a sufficiency of ammunition.1 The loss in taking this important fortress amounted to thirteen Europeans and nine natives, including two officers. This loss was small, but the state to which the heavy guns and their carriag*es was reduced was a serious inconvenience. There were no means of replacing them. The siege of hill-forts was parti- cularly destructive to gun-carriages. To give the pieces sufficient elevation it was necessary to sink the trails into the ground. Where this, as at Trimbak, was impracticable from the rocky site of the battery, the wheels had to be raised on sand-bags. The fall of Trimbak so alarmed the commandants of the other forts that sixteen strong places surrendered without resistance.2 The occupation of so many forts caused serious embarrassment. No regular troops could be spared, and irregulars raised for the purpose were unworthy of trust. The temporary use of irregulars could not be avoided. At the same time application was made to Brigadier- General Doveton for more Native Infantry, who ordered two companies of the second battalion of the 13th Regiment to 30m from Jalna with all expedition.3 Two months after the surrender of Trimbak fort, Tnmbakji Denglia tried to retake it by surprise. Only a few men of the 13th Madras Native Infantry, commanded by a Subhedar, had been lett in the fortress. One morning the sentries at the north gate were asked to admit a band of pilgrims who wished to worship the source of the Godavari. They were admitted without suspicion. Before all of the party had entered one of them attacked the sentry. 1 On examining their guns the artillery of the enemy was not found so unscientmo as their practice seemed to show. Several shells that had been brought from Daman in the time of the Moghal government were lying about. Some of these being filled with loose powder, without a fuze or any other stopper, were run down with the usual charge of powder, ’and fired on the British. The gun gave a double report, as the shell burst the moment it left the muzzle. The assailants could not imagine what was the cause of the double report as they were never able to see where the shot struck or what became of it. The mouth of the gun was torn to pieces. Summary Mar&tha and Pendh&ri Wars, 184, T, , . -r,-, , , 2 These sixteen places were, Achla, Ahivant or Ivatta, Bahula, Bhdskargad, Ghargad,Parish, Hatgad, Kantra, Koledhair, Kanhira, K&vnai, Mdrkmda, Rdmsej, B4vlya-J4vlya, Tringalviidi, and Ydghera. All these forts were visited and reported on by Captain Briggs immediately after their surrender. Ammunition and stores we re found in BMskargad, Kantra, Bfimsej, and Vdghera. Ahmadnagar Collector s MSS. File VI, Inward Miscellaneous. „ . 7 c m • 1 . 3 Blacker’sMardtha War, 321-323. The guns used m the reduction of Trimbak fort were, two iron eighteen-pounders and two iron twelve-pounders, eight six- pounders, two eight-inch and two five and a half inch mortars, two eight-mch and two five and a half inch howitzers. The ammunition expended was 254 eighteen- pound shot, sixty-six twelve-pound shot, 111 eight-inch shells, 4° five and a half inch shells, and 2200 pounds of gunpowder. The stores used were 8000 sand-bags, 200 gabions, and 50 fascines. Lake’s Sieges, 105-106.